Heel for women&#39;s shoes and method of making



June 8 1926.

A. L. CLAPP HEEL FOR WOMEN'S SHOES AND METHOD OF MAKING Filed March '7 1924 Patented June 8, 1926. i

UNITED STATES 1,587,697 PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT L. (man, or DANVERS, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR To BECKWITH MANU- FACTUBING COMPANY, OF BOSTON, CHUSETTS.

MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSA- HEEL FOB WOMENS SHOES AND METHOD OF MAKING;

' Application filed March 7, 1924. Serial No. 697,486:

or heel bases of .mens shoes, this method is entirely satisfactory. When the heels are relatively high, as for womens shoes, the procedure hereinafter outlined is preferable. Since such heels require many lifts and as the cross sectional area of the heel at difierent elevations varies quite widely, itis desirable to apply pressure thereto in all directions to properly shape the heels and thus avoid the necessity of shaving them after they are fixed to the shoe. The preferred rocedure, therefore, is to die out the lifts rom the sheet material as is comes wet from the paper machine, allowin in the cutting for shrinkage as the lifts ry out. While. wet they are superposed in a heel molding press having its side walls as well as its upper and lower walls relatively movable to press the material. In order that the lifts may be held together paste maybe applied to successive lifts as they are placed in the mold or'a nail may be driven therethrough substantially .centrally thereof. After this preliminary pressing treatment, which acts to expel some of the water and .to form'the lifts into biscuits of general heel shape, the biscuits are allowed to become thoroughly dry. In this form they are in condition to leave the paper mill where the wet sheet or board material from which the lifts were cut was made. Trimmings from the wet fiberboard from which tours, whereupon the gums, asphalts, or resins flux together and unite the lifts in a hard compact mass in the required shape.

For a more complete understanding of this invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 represents a portion of the wet sheet or board from which the lifts are cut.

Figure 2 is a perspective of a biscuit formed by fixing together under pressure superposed lifts cut from the wet board. Figure 3 is a plan of the mold or die for pressing the lift together.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the same. Figure 5 is a section on line 55 of Figure 3.

Figure (3 is a View similar to Figure 4, but showing themold heated forvpressing the biscuits into finished heels.

Figure 7 is a front elevation ished heel.-

Figure 8' is a section on line Figure 7. p

The material which may be employed for making the wet sheet material or board from which the lifts are out is susceptible of the finof wide variation, but as one example, the Y furnish to be .sheeted may be as follows. parts of sulphate pulp, 40 parts of box toe waste, 10 parts of Montan wax, and 4 parts of red oxide, are beaten up together for approximately three hours. 5 parts of silicate of soda may then be added and beaten in for 10 minutes, and 3 parts of alum then added and beaten for 20 minutes, after which the furnish so formed is sheeted into a board of the desired caliper from which the heel lifts will he died out. In place of the sulphate pulp any other cellulose fiber, such as rags, newspaper, or com binations of any cellulose fibers, may be employed. In placeof the toe waste, Montan wax may be employed or any waxes, gums,

or asphalts or mixtures thereof. In place of the cellulosic materials mentioned leather scrap may be employed. For example, the furnish may comprise 70 parts of eather, 30 parts of toe .waste, beaten together hard for 3 hours, 3 parts of silicate of soda beaten in for 10 minutes, 2 parts of resin size beaten in for '10 minutes, and 8 parts of alum beaten in for 20 minutes. Of course any suitable coloring may be employed with any of the furnishes, red oxide having been hereinbefore indicated in connection with the furnish employing sulphate pulp.

Another furnish which has been found quite satisfactory comprises 50 parts of. news; parts of sulphate pulp; 5 parts of Montan wax; 35 parts of toe waste; 8 parts of red oxide, beaten up together, after which 2 parts of rosin size are added and then later 3 parts of silicate of soda and then 8 parts of alum or other precipitant.

- In each of the furnishes above mentioned, the waxes, gums and resins are fixed to the fibrous material by the rosin size or silicate of soda and the alum so that there is no difliculty in running the stock on the paper machine.

\Vhile the sheet is wet the lifts are cut therefrom as indicated in Figure 1, the remaining portions of the sheet as at 2 being then wet and in shape to be broken up and returned directly to the beating engine to be re-incorporated in stock to be sheeted for further use. The lifts cut from the wet material are then placed in a forming mold such as is shown in Figure 3. It will be noted that this mold comprises side sections 3 and a front or breast section 4 which may be relatively moved to press the material therebetween, this movement being effected in the present instance as shown by means of screws ,5 threaded through the side walls 6 of the mold and bearing on the outer faces of the members 3 which are slidable in guides 7 in these walls. Preferably the lower face of the mold or die is formedreticulated to permit the escape of water pressed out in the-molding operation. \Vithin the upper end of the mold may be inserted a plunger 10 by which the liftsmay be compressed togetherand a proper heel seat form given to the upper surface thereof. This preliminary pressing, treatment causes the parts to be united into a somewhat rough heel form of greater size than the finished heel which is then allowed to dry out completely to form-the biscuits. These biscuits are then placed in heated molds as shown in Figure 6 similar in construction to that illustrated in Figures 3 to 5 and is then subjected to further pressure and heat. The

heat causes the gums, waxes, resins, or asphalts to flux together within the individual lifts and between the lifts to form a hard com pact heel whose exterior is so completely finished that no shaving operations are necessary after attachment to the shoe, but only final scouring and polishing operations.

A convenient method of heating the mold is by electric heating units which may be inserted in the pressing elements 3 and in thep'lunger 10 as shown at 15 in Figure 6. This final molding operation also causes the upper face of the heel to be formed to the required finished concavity without the use of separate rand strips and also causes any size insignia which may be marked on the iowler face of the plunger to appear on the lee Having thus described this invention it should be evident that many changes and modifications might be madetherein without departing from its spirit or scope as defined by the appended claims,

I claim:

, 1. The method of making a heel which comprises pressing together superposed layers of wet fiberboard with thermo-plastic material, drying the biscuit so formed, and molding the dried biscuit to heel form under heat and pressure.

2 The method of making a heel, which comprises fixing together in superposed relation heel lifts cut from wet fiberboard having thermoplastic material therein, molding them under pressure to form biscuits, drying the biscuits so formed, and molding the dried biscuits to heel form under heat and pressure.

3. The methodof making a heel which comprises sheeting fibrous material containing thermoplastic material on a paper machine, cut-ting blanks of the shape of heel lifts from the sheet material while it is still wet, said blanks being large to allow for shrinkage during drying, fixing the wet blanks in superposed relation and subjecting them to pressure to form a buscuit, permitting the biscuit to dry, and molding the dried biscuit to heel form under heat and pressure.

4. An unfinished heel or biscuit formed of laminations of felted fibrous material fixed together and containing thermoplastic material. 1

5. The step produ t which comprises superposed heel lifts fixed together to form an unfinished heel, each lift comprising felted fibrous material'having thermoplastic material incorporated therein.

In testimony whereof I signature.

ALBERT L. CLAPP.

have aflixed my 

